Taylor Decker helped the Detroit Lions make the playoffs as a rookie in 2016, then spent the next few years watching meaningful late-season NFL games on TV, wondering when – or if – the Lions would be a part of them again.
In 2017, the Lions were eliminated from playoff contention on the second-to-last weekend of the regular season. In 2018, a loss in Week 15 did them in. In 2019, 2020 and 2021, the season was basically over by Thanksgiving.
"As a competitor you should obviously always go out there no matter what, but to be going down the stretch and we're kind of trying to peak and play better and better ball as opposed to we've had years where unfortunately it's like, we're not playing in the postseason, we're just kind of playing for personal pride," Decker said. "So it's pretty special, obviously, to be able to go down the stretch and get to play in really big games and just the more we keep winning, the stakes just get higher and higher.
"And we've earned that right. We definitely know that we've earned that and it's fun."
The Lions play another high-stakes game Sunday against the Buffalo Bills in what could be a preview of Super Bowl 59.
The Lions have the best record in the NFC at 12-1 and need a win Sunday to maintain their lead on the Minnesota Vikings (11-2) and Philadelphia Eagles (11-2) for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
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They've won 11 straight and can set a franchise record for victories Sunday against a Bills team that's 10-3, tied for the second-best record in the AFC and home to league MVP favorite Josh Allen.
"I didn't even know that was a thing," Decker said of setting the franchise record for victories. The Lions went 12-4 in 1991 and tied that mark with a 12-5 record last season. "But yeah, it'd be awesome. I mean, it's fun to play meaningful games late in the year, as I said earlier, but to be able to do things that a franchise has never done would be pretty – it's always something special. You immortalize yourself. I mean, stuff like that’s why you play. You play to be a part of those."
Along with the franchise record for victories, the Lions are vying Sunday to become just the sixth team in NFL history to win at least 13 games three or fewer seasons after they had 13 or more losses. Four of the five previous teams to accomplish the feat – the 1984 San Francisco 49ers, the 2019 49ers, the 1992 Dallas Cowboys and the 1998 Atlanta Falcons – reached the Super Bowl.
Only the 1999 Indianapolis Colts, in Peyton Manning's second season, failed to win their conference.
With games the next two weeks against teams with losing records, the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers, the Lions are bound to make franchise history at some point, but Sunday's game against the Bills is their final measuring stick against one of the NFL's elite quarterbacks and Super Bowl favorites.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said Sunday's game is no more meaningful than other nationally-televised games his team has played against playoff contenders in recent weeks, like last Thursday's last-second win over the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field.
But with the postseason right around the corner, the Lions are racing to eliminate the mistakes that could bring their season to a premature end.
"We need to play clean football," Campbell said. "And I mentioned this before, there’s little things on offense, defense and special teams, just little things, that are creeping up that we hadn’t quite snuffed out yet, that we haven’t quite cleaned up, that are putting us in a couple of bad positions. And we need to just completely disinfect all that. Let’s get it out of there. That’s what I’m really looking for, how clean of a game can we play? And that will serve us well.”
The Lions have survived turnovers each of the past two weeks and are minus-2 in turnover margin over their past five games. They tied for their worst rushing performance of the season (on a yards-per-carry basis) last week against the Packers. And while they rank fourth in the NFL in red-zone defense for the season, they've allowed 5 of 6 red-zone possessions to be converted into touchdowns the past two games.
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Against a Bills team coming off its first loss in two months and one expected to get two key weapons back on offense, wide receiver Keon Coleman and tight end Dalton Kincaid, the Lions can't afford to play anything less than their best game Sunday and expect to win.
Campbell said he's not sure what it will take to beat the Bills – or anyone the Lions face once the playoffs begin.
"So are you willing to say that it’s good enough right now? I’m not," he said. "I don’t want to take that chance. So we got to clean some things up and we will.”
Decker doesn't want to take that chance, either, not after spending so many late-Decembers on the outside looking in.
"You want to play those good teams to see where you kind of measure up," he said. "And again, that's a position that I think we've earned, that we've earned our right to be in those primetime games against good teams cause we're a good team."
